The Japan Air Lines miracle water landing of 1968 (reprinted)

Ed. note: Today’s crash of a Boeing 777 likely reminded Bay Area residents of a similar 1968 incident, where a DC-8 fell short of the runway (with far less tragic results). My Chronicle colleagues have already compiled a list of major SFO crashes. Below is the story of the Shiga, the Japan Air Lines jetliner that crashed and flew again.

The following originally ran on April 20, 2011 on my parenting blog, before The Big Event existed. In light of today’s tragedy, I’ve removed some of the text that was lighter in tone. The original post is here.

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Chronicle librarian Bill Van Niekerken sent me some e-mails about the Japan Air Lines water landing of 1968 — an event that I’m embarrassed to say I didn’t know existed. (I was born two years later in 1970.) Bill and I both grew up in Burlingame, just a mile or two from Coyote Point, where an incoming DC-8 from Tokyo fell short of the San Francisco International Airport runway and a foggy late fall day and sloshed to a halt. Incredibly, all 107 passengers were evacuated safely and no one was killed, seriously injured or even got wet.

But that’s not the miracle, in my opinion. The extraction and repair of the plane was almost as dramatic as the landing. And after a year of extensive repairs, the plane flew again — amassing more than 100,000 millions of miles of international travel, before retiring for good a decade ago.

Photos, facts and quotes about the Japan Air Lines water landing are below.

UPDATED: The mighty Burrito Justice wrote about this two years ago with the added information that the pilot later committed suicide. Sad end to the story (the suicide angle has since been retracted). Check out the post here.

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1. The Japan Air Lines DC-8 plane, named the Shiga, landed at close to 9:30 a.m., Nov. 22, 1968, on a shallow reef at the eastern tip of Coyote Point. This was about three miles short of the runway. The plane was on a trip from Tokyo to SFO, after making a stop in Honolulu. The pilot was experienced (he had flown during World War II), but apparently misread the instruments on the DC-8, which was less than a year old. (The above graphic ran in the Chronicle the next day.)

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Peter Covert/Special to the Chronicle

2. The Shiga landed on a flat and solid underwater surface. More than one official said it was a one-in-a-million shot. Witness Tom Martin of Menlo Park told the Chronicle: “I heard the plane very low, coming in. I looked up and there it was, splashing down, just beautifully.” The Chronicle reported that the landing was “the first completely successful ditching operation since jet airliners went into operation nearly a decade ago.”

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T. Matsuyama/Special to the Chronicle

3. These passengers look pretty great, considering less than an hour earlier, they were probably all pretty sure they were going to die. The landing was reportedly quite placid, with only a few small bags falling from the overhead compartments, and many said they weren’t aware what happened until after it happened. Other than a few children crying, newspaper reports indicated there was no panic on board. (Granted, this was a full 30 years before anyone saw “Lost.” I’m sure they would have been less calm in 2011 … and everyone would end up on the “Today” show.)

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Peter Covert/Special to the Chronicle

4. Among the 96 passengers, there were seven infants. Peter Covert was one of two amateur photographers to contribute images to the Chronicle. (This Covert photo features an unidentified mother and child.) Covert, a New Yorker, told the Chronicle that 70 to 80 percent of the passengers were Japanese, and at least 80 percent took photos of the evacuation. “The people were very calm,” Covert said. “They just kept on snapping pictures.”

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T. Matsuyama/Special to the Chronicle

5. Airport officials said the reef was the “one ideal place in San Francisco Bay” in which to land. A few feet further and it would have sunk deep into mud. In most other parts of the Bay, the plane would have sunk into the depths. The Shiga was essentially on an solid underwater plateau that was seven feet deep, making the wings the perfect plank for these businessmen to walk toward the Coast Guard lifeboats.

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U.S. Coast Guard Photo/Special to the Chronicle

6. From the Chronicle story: “The 100-ton jet came down with only a slight shock — almost like a routine landing. … Initially the plane tilted forward and the engines went under water, and then it settled back so evenly that the floor wasn’t even dampened.” Passengers were evacuated to the Coyote Point Yacht Harbor, and stayed in nearby hotels, where everyone (including the kids) hopefully had a very stiff drink. In several Chronicle articles covering the landing, there’s no record of a single serious injury.

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Art Frisch/Chronicle 1968

7. A local salvage firm called Bigge Drayage Company started planning the excavation of the plane just 45 minutes after the landing. It was a race against time, because the salt water was quickly corroding the hull. “”We’ve got to get that plane out of there within 24 hours or it will be just an $8.3 million piece of junk.” All luggage, fuel and complimentary peanuts were removed to cut the weight. (I made up one of those things.) A 25-person crew worked to get it out of the water.

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Art Frisch/Chronicle 1968

8. The biggest problem for the salvage crew didn’t involve engineering or equipment. It was bureaucratic. The crew needed approval from both U.S. and Japanese government agencies before they could lift the plane an inch. That’s job boss Bob Korst signaling on the right, according to the caption.

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Gordon Peters/Chronicle 1968

9. Two derrick cranes lifted the plane out of the water, and onto a barge. It was transported to the San Francisco airport, where five cranes lifted it off the barge. “I think we’ll have to carry it to the hanger. I don’t expect much to be left of the landing gear,” said Bigge Drayage terminal manager Art Reinholm. But as you can see in the photos, the landing gear looked ready for another takeoff.

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Peter Breinig/Chronicle 1968

10. Once the Shiga was out of the water, a bunch of guys in short sleeve white shirts gathered together and said “Where do we start?” About a year and $4 million later, this DC-8 flew again.

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11. The above information blows my mind. When Bill told me that the Shiga carried passengers again I thought he was joking. This article came out in 1973, five years after the water landing. According to this article on check-six.com, the plane flew for Japan Air Lines until 1983, was sold more than once, and continued flying well into the 1990s. It was dismantled in 2001.

Also in the check-six.com post — Captain Kohei Asoh didn’t exactly get the Sully Sullenberger treatment. He took responsibility for the crash and was demoted to co-pilot. At the National Transportation Safety Board hearing, he reportedly took the stand and said “As you Americans say, I f—ed up.”

Thanks again to librarian Bill for all the help with this.

PETER HARTLAUB is the pop culture critic at the San Francisco Chronicle and founder/editor of The Big Event. He takes requests. Contact him at phartlaub@sfchronicle.com. Follow him on Twitter @peterhartlaub. Follow The Big Event on Facebook.